Living with Diabetes

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  • Guardian RT

    I’ve been reading Printcrafter’s posts also, and unlike some, I’m not anxious to run out and get one.

    Unlike the pump I paid for out of pocket — I don’t see a direct benefit. First, I’m fairly hypo aware. Second, I don’t tend have any. Maybe that’s a function of being a Type 2, but the only time I seem to have lows is when I am exercising, and they are pretty easy to prevent.

    The annoyance factor looks pretty high too. The inserter is pretty nasty looking, and having that much extra bulk on the body seems annoying too.

    For someone like me, I think having the ability to wear something like that for a week at a time, and then return it to the doctor’s office would be the best model. I know that the doctor’s office has the gold version, but I think it would be more useful to be able to see what is going on.

    I’d love to borrow one for a few days to learn how to deal with some specific meals. I still don’t do pizza well at all, and I also have trouble with Mexican meals.

  • Interesting Study, and very sad

    I went to insulin early, and have never regretted it. Frankly, I have had better control and freedom. It’s even more true since I went to the pump.

    Resistance to Insulin Therapy Among Patients and Providers

    Patient and provider attitudes differ significantly across countries, controlling for individual characteristics. Patients rate the clinical efficacy of insulin as low and would blame themselves if they had to start insulin therapy. Self-blame is significantly lower among those who have better diet and exercise adherence and less diabetes-related distress.

  • Workshop Experiments

    I set up a new basal rate and adjusted it last night for workshops.

    Basically I’ve found that using the temp basal at 50%+ helps, but there is a problem with temporary basals. For one, you can accidently turn them off and I’ve done that.

    I’ve set up the extra basal and I switched over to it last night. I plan to switched back to the normal basal tonight and have the Treo programmed to remind me.

    Here’s the good news. I ate breakfast at 7:15 and I just checked and my blood sugar is at 146, definately within the parameters I’ve set.

    Four hours after eating and my blood sugar is 122 which is extremely good. So far everything is working well.

    I left the workshop with a blood sugar reading of 117. A major victory! Hopefully repeatable.

  • Met another pumper!

    One of the fun thingss about this weekend is that on Saturday, I met a pumper.

    He was diagnosed at 3 and was put on his first pump at 8, I think. So he doesn’t remember not being diabetic, and barely remembers not being on a pump.

    It was awesome to meet someone who understood what I was going through, especially the physical sympthoms of being high and being low.

    At the same time, we have a really different set of experiences. I am still really new to the pumping world. There are a lot of things I don’t do well yet — agility is one of them.

    But it was really need to met someone with the common experiments.

  • Met another pumper!

    One of the fun thingss about this weekend is that on Saturday, I met a pumper.

    He was diagnosed at 3 and was put on his first pump at 8, I think. So he doesn’t remember not being diabetic, and barely remembers not being on a pump.

    It was awesome to meet someone who understood what I was going through, especially the physical sympthoms of being high and being low.

    At the same time, we have a really different set of experiences. I am still really new to the pumping world. There are a lot of things I don’t do well yet — agility is one of them.

    But it was really need to met someone with the common experiments.

  • Agility Videos

    Here are videos from our agility weekend. The first is a fun match, the next three are our clean runs, and the last is our “goof”.

    http://tinyurl.com/84hk4

  • Agility Videos

    Here are videos from our agility weekend. The first is a fun match, the next three are our clean runs, and the last is our “goof”.

    http://tinyurl.com/84hk4

  • Post Agility

    My bolus rates aren’t working as well as they were last week. I’ve been consistently high after each meal. 163 after lunch.

    I think it is really interesting, and sort of in a way, documented in the book “Pumping Insulin”, that the more insulin you use the more you need, and vice versa. Since I went 3 days with using 50 units a day, it is going to take a few days for my body to adjust downward to the 30 units a day rate, especially since I have a workshop tomorrow, and I’ll probably using about 40 units that day.

  • Post Agility

    My bolus rates aren’t working as well as they were last week. I’ve been consistently high after each meal. 163 after lunch.

    I think it is really interesting, and sort of in a way, documented in the book “Pumping Insulin”, that the more insulin you use the more you need, and vice versa. Since I went 3 days with using 50 units a day, it is going to take a few days for my body to adjust downward to the 30 units a day rate, especially since I have a workshop tomorrow, and I’ll probably using about 40 units that day.

  • The morning after

    I’m incredibly stiff today, but other than that, am fine.

    My TDD insulin usage was way up all weekend — just around 50 units a day. My weight is up a little, but not substantially.

    This week will continue to be interesting, as I have a teacher workshop tomorrow. That means I’ll have to increase my basal rate around 50%. I’ve got a basal rate in my pump for that now, which I plan to review after today, and switch to in the evening.

    My blood sugar this morning was 111, a bit higher than the previous mornings, but not bad. Not correctable.

    All in all, I’m glad I did everything I did. To recap the weekend — in fact, I don’t think I posted much about Sunday:

    On Friday, Marcie and I took two first places with Clean Runs. One in Excellent Standard Perferred A, One in Excellent JWW Preferred B. Times were substantially below regular course time.

    On Saturday, Marcie and I took a first place with a clean run and again, substantially under course time. Excellent Standard Preferred A, and finished her AXP title.

    She is now Bettner’s Byte of Magic, OA, OAJ, AXP, AJP, CGC

    On Sunday, last run, Maggie had a clean but very ugly Open run, getting a first place and her first Open leg.

    So in 10 runs, we placed 1st 4 times.

    The best part, though, is that I came home all three days feeling pretty good. Was able to do a workout on both Friday and Saturday, but was too stiff to move Sunday. The only thing I’d change, would be to wear more layers of clothing on Sunday. Man, it was cold.